Second Chances
by nine miles to go
Summary: 14-year-old Chris never knew he had a father...till he lost everything he ever knew. Song-fic, one-shot between Chris and Leo. SAD! R&R!


_Now I will tell you what I've done for you   
Fifty thousand tears I've cried   
Screaming, deceiving and bleeding for you   
And you still won't hear me   
(Going under...)_

_They were closing in on him. He was trapped, frozen in his corner in the manor kitchen in terror. The demons came so close, he could feel their excitement, their sick pleasure. _

_Yes. Yes, another victim to slaughter. They hungered for his destruction, their eyes twinkling maniacally as they moved forward, weapons drawn. _

_He was too weak and numb to fight. He'd fought with everything he'd had, but it wasn't good enough. His family was dead. And now...he let out a small cry. The demons were going to kill him, too. _

Chris woke up with a startled gasp, head smacking the bunk above him. He swore under his breath at the annoying pain that met the impact, but mostly for the damned nightmare. It kept happening again and again, so vivid in his mind.

Though that was so surprising. It had only been a few weeks since they had died, and ever since then, every waking moment of his extistence haunted him, mocked him for living while they had died. He let out one last shuddered breath before throwing off the thin blanket that he used here at the Alliance.

The Alliance. So cliche, and yet so appropriate for their cause. It was against the great evil that was destroying witches one by one. An elder had organized it as a safe place for all that was left, to rebel against Wyatt. Wyatt, his brother. Chris scoffed. How could they possibly even be related, let alone live on the same planet?

He was on his way to get a glass of water when a soft voice interrupted his thoughts. "Chris?" she asked quietly, as not to wake the others in their slumber. "Is that you?"

He let out a sigh of relief. "Yeah, it's me. Sorry...did I wake you, Bianca?"

"Nah. I was already up." She pulled him out into another lit room, so they could see each other. "Nightmares again?"

"Yeah," he said, looking down at the floor in shame. "It's so stupid."

"It's not stupid, Chris. They were your family."

"No...actually, they weren't. I mean, not to me anyways." He sighed. "In my mind, they were this picture-perfect family I just happened to live with. I had the opportunity to observe if I was lucky, but I was never a part of it." He laughed bitterly. "And to think that they're causing these nightmares now..."

"Chris, who was your family? I don't even know your last name," she realized after a long pause. "You've been here for two and a half weeks and you haven't even mentioned anything about yourself!"

"I can't tell you anything, Bi. I'm sorry."

_Don't want your hand this time I'll save myself   
Maybe I'll wake up for once (wake up for once...)   
Not tormented daily, defeated by you   
Just when I thought I'd reached the bottom_

"What _can_ you tell me, Chris?" she demanded, looking hurt. "Do you just not trust me?"

"No, it's not that. It's not that at all!" he protested.

"Then why won't you ever tell me anything?" She paused, catching her breath. "At least tell me about them. You don't have to give me any names."

He nodded wearily. "Well...okay...I--I had a brother two years ago. Then one day he just got up, left the house, and became evil. My mother went berserk. I don't have a father, and she was raising us alone. She devoted every minute of her life to finding him."

"So you were ignored?" she asked sympathetically.

"I'd been ignored long before that, so I didn't care. What I cared about was trying to convince her that W--my brother was evil. She didn't believe me." He sighed. "I had two aunts, too, and one uncle and a cousin a year younger than me. A girl, twelve. She was too wrapped up in her social life for anyone, let alone me, and my aunts doted over how adorable she was and how powerful my brother was. So, like I said, I was ignored."

"All the time?"

"All the time. So it's not like anything's changed."

"Chris, I know you cared about them. You almost died saving them. If we hadn't found you..." She shuddered. "In another few minutes, you could've died yourself. And we need you here. You're strong, Chris. Stronger than you might think."

Chris looked down at his shoes guiltily. He still hadn't shown anyone the full extent of his powers, which were quite large. Actually, nobody even knew he could orb.

CRASH.

"What was that?" Bianca gasped.

Chris turned to see a demon--no, one of THE demons from the original attack--looming before them.

"No," he choked. "No--you--you get away!" he cried, sending energy balls at it unceasingly. "Go away! Leave me alone!" He kept hurling them until he finally collapsed to his knees, shaking with rage.

"It's gone, Chris," said Bianca weakly, crouching beside him. "Was that...?"

"Yes. It was one of the demons that murdered them all," he said, his voice cold and distant. "They were supposed to be dead. They were never supposed to come back!" he cried, tears welling up in his eyes.

Bianca was startled by the sudden terror and anguish written all over her friend's face. She'd only known him for a few weeks, but she felt she'd known him forever. And to see him so afriad...it wasn't normal. She knew that Chris was the kind of kid that didn't have breakdowns like this very often. Even when they'd told him there were no other bodies found near him, meaning his family's dead bodies had been stolen, he didn't utter a sound.

He quickly regained composure, standing back up. "We should get to bed."

"Wait." She grabbed his arm. "That power...the energy balls...that wasn't a wiccan power. I know that."

"So do I."

_I'm dying again   
I'm going under   
Drowning in you   
I'm falling forever   
I've got to break through   
I'm going under_

He watched Bianca return to her bed and waited until he was sure she was asleep to go out for a walk. He didn't like the captivity of the Alliance's quarters underground; besides, he didn't need protection anyway. He could just use his powers to conceal himself from radar for a little while, as exhausting as that was. But he needed the practice in the new power too, so it was a win-win situation even if he did get tired.

After looking around to make sure no one could see, he concealed himself and orbed into the night.

He found himself sitting on the cold, concrete steps of the manor. The street was dead quiet and not a single light was shining. All around him was complete darkness and the eerie glow of the moon overhead. No one lived on this street anymore, not since Wyatt had come to power. He shivered, hugging his knees to his chest in the cold.

"It's like a ghost town," he muttered to himself, laughing bitterly at the humorless situation. "A freaking ghost town. Wow, Wyatt. Does Mom still think your so special after what you did?" He paused, sniffling a bit. He was alone. It was okay to cry when he was alone. "They didn't believe me. Why believe me when there's someone so gifted and special like you, Wyatt?"

He couldn't bring himself to look behind him at the manor. They'd died there, in the kitchen. He couldn't remember much. It all went blurry at about the point that he jumped in the way of that fireball to protect Prue...and then they were coming to finish him off. And then...nothing. It was all a blank. He woke up a day later at the Alliance headquarters, and since that day it had been a bit like, "Hey, welcome to your new life. You don't know anyone or anything and now you have to deal with it."

But he didn't mind all that much. By joining the Alliance, he could stop Wyatt. Even if it was too late to save his own family...he could still save others. He choked back another sob and closed his eyes as the wind blew around him.

_"Piper, you know that I don't want to do this. You know that I'd much rather stay down here and be with the boys. I love you and our family more than anything else in the world..." The man held a baby in his arms that was staring up at him with big, green eyes. _

_Piper's eyes were filled with rapidly falling tears. "I know. I just don't understand...why you, Leo? Why did they have to take you away from me?" She let out a long sob, holding the hand of a little blonde toddler down at her feet. "I don't know if I can handle this. We have two magical little boys now, Leo. How am I going to handle this all on my own?" _

_"I know you can do this, Piper. You can do anything. You'll be strong." His own eyes filled with tears. "And it's not like it's good-bye forever, right? I'll see you as often as I can. As soon as these chains of disasters end, I'll have spare time to come down and visit you. I promise." _

_Piper nodded, motioning for the baby back. The man hesitated, staring at the baby with a longing, before cuddling him close and handing him over to Piper. The baby let out a loud wail, as if sensing the anguish. The man bent down to hug the toddler, then kissed Piper  good-bye before orbing away. _

_Never to be seen again. _ 

_Blurring and stirring the truth and the lies   
So I don't know what's real and what's not   
Always confusing the thoughts in my head   
So I can't trust myself anymore_

"Wake up, buddy. Wake up."

A gentle hand shook him awake, and Chris found himself still sitting on the pavement outside the manor. He groggily woke, then his eyes locked with the man beside him.

He gasped and jumped back. "You...you..."

"Wait, please," the man begged.

It was the man from the dream, hovering over him. The man that abandoned them. It was the only thing that made sense: this man was his Leo. This man was his father.

"No--I--" he orbed out, too paralyzed by his surprise and anger to speak.

He reformed on the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. He'd been coming here since his ninth birthday, when he first realized he could orb in the first place. Finally he burst into angry, frustrated sobs. How could this happen? He'd lived all his life without knowing the man, and then all of a sudden he just shows up at the front of the manor. Like he actually cared what happened to him.

After all these years, Chris didn't care who or what that man was. The man had left their family, left Chris to bear the burden of being Piper's anger outlet. Left him to be ignored like he was useless. His entire life he'd been pushed around and shot down in everything...this was just one thing that he couldn't take. Not now.  

He was so succumbed in his anger, he didn't notice the darklighter standing before him with a wicked glint in his eyes, poised to attack. A small squeak escaped him as the arrow made contact and pierced through his shoulder and his eyes grew wide from the pain. The darklighter black orbed away, leaving him to his misery.

The poison was slowly numbing his body and he cringed, gasping for air. There was no escaping this; being hit by an arrow like this was a death sentence. So maybe he couldn't protect himself after all.

And maybe his surviving Wyatt's attack was an accident, and now Wyatt sent the darklighter to kill him. His green eyes glinted with a new rage. Wyatt really DID want to kill him.

And even though he didn't want to admit it to himself, he knew the truth. Wyatt would get his wish soon enough.

_I'm dying again   
I'm going under   
Drowning in you   
I'm falling forever   
I've got to break through   
I'm..._

Little lights seemed to dance before his eyes, mocking all that he'd ever fought for. There was no chance to stop Wyatt. The Alliance would probably wake up tomorrow and not even know he was missing. He'd die here, on the top of a freaking bridge, of all places and of all causes.

He didn't want to die. Anything to stay away from them...the family that betrayed him. He'd rather continue living this stupid life down here than go with them, with the dead.

"I'm sorry, Chris."

He tried to look up, but nobody was there.

"We were wrong."

"What...? Who...?" he croaked.

"It's me...your mother. Chris, we were so wrong. I'm sorry for all that we put you through. You have to hold on, okay? Just hold on. Leo's coming, I know he is. They need you down there. You need to save them all. Oh, Chris..."

"Who...who is he? Why is he here?" he managed.

"He's your father, an elder, and also the leader of the Alliance. Once the Alliance was created, I forbade either you or Wyatt to see him ever again. Now I know how wrong I was. You suffered and it wasn't fair."

A jingle of orbs came from behind him.

"I love you, Chris."

When it all went black, he knew the voice was gone.

_So go on and scream   
Scream at me I'm so far away   
I won't be broken again   
I've got to breathe I can't keep going under_

"Are you all right? Say something...please..."

Chris blinked, looking up at Leo again. He coughed, struggling for air for a moment. "You're...you're my father."

Leo's tear-filled eyes shone in regret and he put a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Yes, I am. I know this has been hard for you. I'm sorry I couldn't do anything...but I was hoping I could have another chance."

Chris stared down at the cars, lost for words.

"A second chance at what?" he asked after a moment.

"I want a second chance to be the father I wasn't allowed to be, Chris. Please. I love you so much. I'd watch you both every night after you went to bed...I saw your sorrows, your accomplishments, your dreams. But you never knew. I want to be here for you now, Chris. Give me a chance."

The wind brushed the hair out of his face as Chris finally looked up and met Leo's gaze. "Okay," he said after a moment.

"Thank you."

_I'm dying again   
I'm going under   
Drowning in you   
I'm falling forever   
I've got to break through   
I'm going under   
Going under   
I'm going under_


End file.
